Morning Wire - Zuckerberg Defunds Police & Contaminated Beaches | 7.15.23

Episode Date: July 15, 2023

While spending millions on private security Mark Zuckerberg donates to Defund the Police groups, higher education loses trust of Americans, and beaches across the U.S. are contaminated with fecal bacteria. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don't miss the Devil Wears Prada 2 in theaters. Merrill Street, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are back. In light of the recent scandal, I'm here to restore your credibility. I did not hire you, and all I need to do is bide my time until you've failed. On May 1st, I'm going to make something of this job. Rain. Be the bridges I burn. Night my way. Forever.

I just love my job. Get tickets now. The Devil Wears Prada 2 in theaters May 1st. Directed by David Frankel. Mark Zuckerberg spends 10. of millions of dollars on personal security, while his charitable foundation pours millions into defund the police groups.

This idea of abolishing the police, defunding the police, it came from an extreme elite in America, and then it kind of filtered down through the media and activist class. What's behind the Facebook CEO's funding priorities? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.

It's July 15th, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire. As the cost of a four-year degree increases, confidence in higher education is plummeting. Is a college education still worth the massive investment? Sharks, jellyfish, and now sewage? A new study finds half of all U.S. beaches are contaminated. You have literally solid fecal matter, toilet paper, everything you can think of that you would flush down your toilet is right out there in the ocean. We'll tell you where ocean swimming may be hazardous to your health.

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg has spent upwards of $40 million on personal security over the past three years, while giving millions to support the defund the police effort. A high-profile example of what critics say is a disconnect at the heart of the defund movement. Here to discuss the connection between the anti-police movement and private security is Daily Wire reporter Amanda the Press of Jacamo. Hey Amanda. So what do we know about Zuckerberg's donations in light of this report on his own private security? Investigative reporter Lee Fang uncovered this week that Zuckerberg's Foundation, CZI, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, has given $3 million to a company called PolicyLink since

2020. That company bills itself as working toward, quote, advancing economic and social equity. PolicyLink is one of the organizations behind defundpolice.org. That project is even more explicitly anti-police, describing itself as a one-stop shop for organizers and advocates looking for tools, resources, and trainings to divest from policing and build safer communities. Zuckerberg's CZI has also given $2.5 million to Soledare. That group promises to help donor organizers mobilize and advance the front lines of social justice movements. In one example, the group has boasted about helping strip Oakland of $18 million from its police budget.

And meanwhile, reports show Zuckerberg has spent tens of millions of dollars on his own private security, correct? Yeah, he sure did. Meta Company filings reveal that some $43 million were spent for security measures on Zuckerberg and his family over the past three years. And the criticism is Zuckerberg and other elites, for that matter, are spending big money to effectively undermine police in American neighborhoods, which has been associated with causing spikes in crime while being able to fund their own private protection.

Right. And Zuckerberg isn't the only elite to support the defund movement while having ties to private security. We've actually seen that for years. Tell us about that trend. Yeah, we've seen this since 2020, and that's when those Black Lives Matter protests and riots really took off about defunding the police. But one of the most eye-popping examples comes from another billionaire. eBay founder Pierre Amidiar. He's invested in a private security start, up after spending millions of dollars to support the defund movement. This is pretty interesting because this seems to be one step above quietly protecting yourself while advocating to defund the police for others.

Critics say Amitya can financially gain from this boom in the private security industry, which has reportedly grown by $2 billion since 2020. Wow. This apparent hypocrisy extends to politicians, too. One of the most vocal supporters of the defund the police movement is New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. From 2021 to October of last year, AOC reportedly spent $120,000 on security protection. That's according to the New York Times. A report in April from the Washington Free Beacon found that AOC and her fellow so-called squad congressional representatives

spent over a combined $1 million on security measures since May of 2020. And again, that's around the time the defund movement really took off. Missouri Democratic. credit representative, Corey Bush, is certainly another standout here. She's one of those members of the squad. She directed $490,000 to private security for the 2022 election cycle, while simultaneously, heavily promoting the defund movement. Not only is that a pretty penny, but Bush notably hired her then-boyfriend and now husband, Courtney Merits, for his security services for her campaign. She reportedly paid merits more than $62,000. So even a potential conflict of interest there.

What is the rationale from those who promote and even invest in the defund movement while building up their own private security? The main reasoning seems to be that they're public figures and therefore they need more protection than the average person. The New York Times, for example, noted that AOC has received an increase in threats since 2021. Corey Bush was actually pressed about the seeming disconnect, though, last year. And she gave a really fiery and memorable reaction on CBS. airwaves. You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know, because that could be the alternative. So either I spent $70,000 on private security over the last few months or I could possibly have a death attempt on my life. I have private security because

my body is worth being on this planet right now. I have private security because they, the white supremacist, racist narrative that they drive into this country. Well, the point here, is that we don't want to see anyone die, whether they're a public figure or just the average citizen. Amanda, thanks for reporting. Anytime. New data from Gallup

shows Americans' confidence in higher education plummeted this year to an all-time low. Here with more on what's behind the lagging confidence and other polls on how Americans feel about affirmative action in higher education as Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips. So, Cabot, what are we seeing here with these polls? Yeah, a fascinating trend here.

So according to a new Gallup poll, Americans have less faith in higher education than at any point on record, with just 36% expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence. Now, those numbers are markedly different from what we saw just eight years ago. The same poll in 2015 found 57% of Americans with a great deal or quite a bit of confidence in the institution. So we're talking about a 21 point drop in less than a decade. And during that same time period, the number of Americans expressing very little confidence more than doubled from 9 to 22%. So a seemingly rapid sea change in how Americans view higher ed. Yeah.

Where was that drop most noticeable? Well, the drop in confidence was seen everywhere. Literally every category and demographic included in this survey saw a decline. The biggest drop, though, came among Republicans. Back in 2015, 56% of GOP voters expressed confidence in higher ed. Today, that number is 19%. We saw a similar 16-point drop among independents from 48 to 32, while the smallest drop came from Democrats. It fell from 68 in 2015 to 59% today. Now, it's worth noting when you break down the numbers

based on age, gender, education level, and party ID, the only demographic in the entire survey where the majority of Americans still have confidence in higher ed is the group comprised of Democrat voters, where 59% still express confidence. So there is a noticeable disparity between Republicans and independents and then those on the left. What's behind the lack of confidence? So the reasons do vary largely based on age and party affiliation. This specific poll didn't get into the reasons, but in past polling, we've seen that younger Americans and those in the Democratic Party tend to lack confidence because of the ballooning cost of higher education.

They often argue that the system is rigged to benefit the elite and trap lower and middle class Americans in the state of perpetual debt after graduating. So that's why they're not trusting. But for older Americans and GOP voters, the lack of confidence overwhelmingly stems from ideological concerns. They argue that colleges are dominated by the left and essentially indoctrinate students with liberal ideologies. Critics on that front of town at studies showing that liberal professors outnumber conservative professors by 10 to 1 in most studies, so it's not hard to understand why there is waning trust among GOP voters. We also received some new polling on another key issue impacting

higher ed, and that's affirmative action. Tell us about that. So most will remember last month's monumental Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, again, it barred colleges and universities, from admitting students based on race. Well, according to a number of recent polls, that practice has become deeply unpopular with the majority of Americans. For example, a Pew survey out last month found that just one in three Americans

approve of colleges using race as a factor in emissions, while only one in five said it made the college emissions process more fair. But again, on this front, there is a clear split along party lines. Democrats support the practice by a margin of 54 to 29, while Republicans oppose it 74 to 14%. And there's also a clear breakdown among racial groups where black Americans support the practice 47 to 29.

Hispanics are split evenly at 39 to 39, while whites and Asians overwhelmingly oppose the practice. So now the question becomes if those numbers begin to shift once the SCOTUS ruling takes effect in the coming months and years. It will start to see how that ruling plays out in public perception. Kavitt, thanks for reporting. Any time. New research is raising the alarm about the safety of America's beaches. A recent study suggests that potentially dangerous. levels of bacteria are contaminating the waters where Americans are swimming. Here with the details is

Daily Wires Charlotte Pence-Bond. So Charlotte, tell us about this study. Hi, Georgia. So according to a new study by Environment America, over half of beaches around the country tested positive for potentially unsafe levels of fecal contamination on at least one day last year. That means that the levels were over the EPA's highest protection level beach action value, which is a method states can use when deciding whether they should alert people about beach safety. Getting down to the numbers, for most cases, this meant that a beach was deemed potentially unsafe if 32 out of 1,000 swimmers got sick. So over half of beaches were unsafe on at least one day, and that's defined as about 3% of swimmers getting sick. What's the likelihood that our listeners have visited one of these

potentially unsafe beaches? Unfortunately, it is fairly likely, especially because beaches could have had dangerous bacteria when they weren't tested in the study. 363 beaches around the country, which is around 11% of those measured, had this potentially dangerous contamination on at least 25% of the days they were tested. And swimmers can experience health effects from taking a dip in contaminated water. These can take the form of stomach illnesses, respiratory disease, as well as rashes, and eye-and-ear infections. The report pointed out that 57 million illnesses are estimated to occur in the U.S. every year from

swimming in popular water sources, and most of them are not reported. A study released earlier this year found that the bacteria in contaminated seawater can actually enter the air too. So even if people weren't swimming there, they could have been breathing in bacteria. But scientists have said more research needs to be done on the health effects of that. Now, are certain regions of the U.S. more affected? It does vary by region, but the numbers were pretty bleak across the board. The Gulf Coast had the worst levels. On at least one day last year, 84% of beaches on the Gulf coast were potentially unsafe for beachgoers. At the Great Lakes, that number was 63%. Hawaii and Alaska had the best numbers there at 24%, but still almost a quarter. The East Coast had 48% of its beaches

at these levels, and the West Coast was 70%. Communities near San Diego have been experiencing this firsthand for years, as sewage has spilled from Tijuana. More recently, it's led to the the shutdown of almost 30% of the San Diego Coast. Here's Philip Musigis, San Diego Coastkeepers. They have a joint agreement with Mexico to kind of work on the problem, but there doesn't seem to be a sense of real urgency. And oftentimes, the actual levels in the water are much higher than the limit, right? They are way over the limit. Well, that gets to my next question. Do we know what's causing the contamination? Are we just hearing about it because there's recent research, or is this a new problem? It could be a little bit of both. A big issue is infrastructure. First of

the expanded construction of waterproof areas like roads and parking lots allows more polluted rainwater to get into the ocean and rivers. There's also the issue of sewage systems that haven't been updated. Big factory farms are also a contributor because lots of manure comes from them and the local farmland can't keep up with it. That manure can get into our waterways when it rains if the agricultural land can't soak it up first. So small farms would potentially create less of a risk. But remember, places like California are making it harder for small farms to exist. New regulations are threatening to restrict how farmers can operate their farms, which could result in fewer small farms existing at all. On a positive note, the other major beach disaster this year was the massive blob of Sargassum seaweed drifting toward Florida.

That was threatening to ruin many beaches for the whole season. Well, that blob has shrunk by 75%, which is a huge relief for beach lovers in Florida. Well, if anyone wonders, this will not stop me from swimming this year, but Charlotte, thanks so much for reporting. Thanks so much, Georgia. Thank you for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and stand with our mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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